The $10,000 invested in default funds a decade ago is worth only $16,000 on average today. Source: Supplied

SUPER savers could have doubled their money if they had switched to the best performing investments each year of the past decade.

Savers who switched their super into cash during the global financial crisis, then spent a year in property and then moved in to fixed interest investments last year, would have seen their $10,000 investment nearly quadruple to $37,000 today, figures show.

Instead, the $10,000 invested in default funds a decade ago is worth only $16,000 on average today.

"Because our super funds weren't able to get each year's asset allocation right, we are 50 per cent worse off from where we could have been," said Alex Dunnin, the head of research at SelectingSuper, which made the analysis.

"It illustrates what could have been and why picking investment strategy is so important."

Australians saving for retirement have the highest exposure to shares in the world. But the analysis by SelectingSuper shows by far the best strategy for savers is to actively manage their super, or ensure a fund manager to do so.

According to Mr Dunnin: "Prior to the GFC, Australian shares were always the best asset class to be in. But since then, they have been number one only once; cash and bonds have been top three times. In other words, prior to the GFC, being an investment adviser was easy and any clown could have been one. But now it's really hard and picking the right fund is going be even more important."

The federal Finance and Superannuation Minister Bill Shorten said super funds needed to widen their horizon of potential investments to include more infrastructure projects and investments in Asia.

"We need to stop principally relying on Australian equities, which is the equivalent of clinging to the edge of the pool, and our fund managers need to more confidently swim out into the middle, looking for better deals," he said.

The research manager at SuperRatings, Kirby Rappell, said savers could add thousands of dollars to their retirement nestegg by shopping around. "There are some funds that have persistently underperformed their peers. People do need to be asking hard questions of their super fund," he said.

Swapping to newer, lower-fee products with the same fund could also boost returns. "It's like having a bank account. If you have got an old school account, but your bank is now offering new fee free options, there is no automatic transfer. Unless you exercise choice, you're not necessarily going to be moved," Mr Rappell said.

He said industry super funds tended to have lower administration fees, at an average of $600 a year on a $50,000 balance, compared to an average of $960 for retail funds. Although "there are a lot of good funds on both side of the divide - its about products," he added.

The investment research manager at Chant West - which also does rankings of super funds - Mano Mohankumar, said savers should take a "life cycle" approach to investment. "Obviously, for those approaching retirement, you would expect them to be in a less risky portfolios, whereas if you're 25 years old, you have got lots of time, so you would invest in a more aggressive portfolio."

Mr Mohankumar cautioned against trying to predict the market. "I think timing the market is very difficult. Obviously, during the GFC, switching from shares to cash was something everybody spoke about. But it's very risky. Say you switched to cash in early 2009 when the market was recovering, you would have missed out on the upside."

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